


Times Like These

by brokenhighways



Series: Librarian!Jensen [5]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angsty Schmoop, Kid Fic, M/M, Timestamp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-12
Updated: 2013-01-12
Packaged: 2017-11-25 06:30:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/636084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenhighways/pseuds/brokenhighways
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things don't get off to a great start when they initially start dating, but Jensen's convinced that in the end, him and Jared will make it work.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Times Like These

**Author's Note:**

> Timestamp in the Librarian Jensen series.

Jensen’s been out on a lot of dates with a lot of guys. It’s not like he’s a serial dater or anything, he’s just always been on the lookout for the right person. So when he finally stops ogling Jared’s ass and starts talking to the guy, he gets a good feeling. And when Jared finally agrees to date him he gets a really good feeling. But first dates are still kinda awkward. More so when said date doesn’t seem to be paying attention.  
  
“Is everything okay?” He asks finally as Jared checks his phone for what seems like the thousandth time. He’s known Jared for a little while now; enough to know that he’s not the kind of person to check his Twitter or Facebook profile every five minutes. Especially in a restaurant as fancy as the one they’re in now.  
  
“Yeah,” Jared says distractedly before he looks up with a sheepish smile on his face. “Sorry. Just checking up on the little one.” Jensen smiles back instead of responding because he doesn’t know what to say.  
  
They part ways shortly after that.  
~*~  
“Hang on,” Chris says the next evening when they’re jamming at his apartment. “What exactly is the problem? You like him; he likes you, end of story.”  
  
“But he has responsibilities that I don’t, and he doesn’t seem to be into the whole dating thing. Like dinner and movies and other romantic bullshit.” Jensen hates that he’s whining about this to Chris but he knows about Jared’s reservations when it comes to relationships and dating. He doesn’t want Jared to give up on what they have because Jensen’s not used to dating someone who has a child. And, it’s not like he doesn’t like kids, he works at a library, he’s practically around them every day.  
  
“You mean you don’t even like these restaurants you’ve been dragging him to?” Chris says as strums his guitar strings gently.  
  
“Not really,” Jensen admits. “But it’s what people do right; it’s what I’ve always done.” He can already see that Chris thinks he’s an idiot and perhaps he’s right. The thing is that Jensen’s had a crush on Jared for so long that he doesn’t know what to do. So he just did what he always did, standard, generic dates.  
  
“How was he on the first date?” Chris asks.  
  
“He was a little overwhelmed, but he seemed to have a good time and he wasn’t checking his phone every five minutes either,” Jensen replies, ignoring the way that Chris rolls his eyes. “I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing, just when I’m on a date with him, I want to feel like he wants to be there. Not watch him text Sophia constantly.”  
  
“Look, Jared kept on resisting this thing that you have because he’d been burned before by nice, probably less pretty men, or chicks or whoever,” Chris says. “They cooled off once they realised that he had a kid.”  
  
“What’s your point?” Jensen can’t help the defensiveness in his tone. He adores Aimee, everybody knows that. He’d never use her as a reason to break up with Jared.  
  
“Don’t be one of those guys.”  
\--  
Despite Jensen’s protests that he’s not “one of those guys”, Chris’ words resonate in his mind over and over. He tries to put himself in Jared’s shoes. But he can’t quite picture it so in the end he bites the bullet and asks Jared himself.  
  
“Hey,” he says when they meet up for coffee during the next week. “You’ve been a little distracted during dinner and I was just wondering if we were okay…” Jared shoots him an unreadable look and Jensen sees that Jared’s taking a deep breath.  
  
“I haven’t been on dates for a long, long time Jensen and I know that you know this but it doesn’t make it any easier you know? And making sure that my daughter is okay helps a little. I know that it’s not what you signed up for and God, it’s rude and I’m sorry.” Jensen’s pretty sure that he murmurs something that sounds suspiciously like, ‘God I never should have listened to Chad’ but he ignores that. Suddenly the pieces start to slot together and he looks at Jared and he comes to a sudden realisation.  
  
“You were testing me?” He says incredulously. “And I feel for it too, I bet your next words were going to be ‘maybe we shouldn’t do this’, right?”  
  
Jared doesn’t deny it.  
  
Jensen is fuming, “Well, maybe I’m not going to give you the chance.”  
  
\--  
  
“That was your parting shot?” Chris says with a snort after Jensen finishes telling him what happened. “Did you click your fingers in a Z shape and sashay out of there, gurlfriend?” Jensen glares at him.  
  
“Alright, alright, buzz kill,” Chris sobers up quickly and tilts his head in thought. “Why are you surprised?  
  
“What?” Jensen splutters, because he’s come to Chris for answers not questions. Jared’s called him twice since he left and Jensen hasn’t returned either call. Not because he doesn’t want to talk to Jared, but because he feels like an asshole. He doesn’t agree with what Jared’s done but at the same time he understands. It just hurts because he thought that he’d be different. That Jared wouldn’t worry about Jensen leaving. Jensen thought that Jared would trust him. But sometimes he forgets. He forgets that there’s been a ‘Jared’ in his life for a long time whereas he’s just hit Jared out of nowhere.  
  
He has to earn Jared’s trust instead of just expecting it.  
  
“I think you know what,” Chris says as he stands up from Jensen’s couch. “So I’m going to leave now and hope that you do the right thing.” He clicks his fingers and waves them in a Z-shape, and dodges quickly when Jensen retaliates by throwing a cushion at his head. He can still hear Chris laughing even when the door closes behind him.  
\--  
Jared shows up at the library before Jensen has a chance to speak with him and Jensen briefly considers hiding underneath the desk. But he sits and there and watches as Jared approaches and he looks up at him. Jared looks as beautiful as ever in his custom plaid shirt and dark blue jeans and Jensen’s not really sure how he could ever pretend that he wasn’t going to fight for this. Fight for their relationship, for the life that they could have together if they got their act together. Still, it doesn’t mean that he’s not going to give Jared a hard time over this.  
  
“How can I help you?” He says blankly when Jared reaches the desk. There’s a brief look of hurt on Jared’s face but it’s replaced quickly by a passive expression.  
  
“I’m here to apologise,” Jared says quietly. “I should have trusted you not to up and leave. But I dunno, you haven’t been around to the apartment since we agreed to give this ago and you haven’t seen Aimee. I just, freaked out and Chad said I should try and test you somehow, see if that was what the problem was.” Jensen wants to argue and say that it was all in Jared’s mind but he can admit that it doesn’t look good. Yes, he’d been avoiding Jared’s place but…that was just to give him some space. He didn’t want to be the guy who got clingy after a couple of dates. Especially when not long ago, he’d been so sure that Jared would never give him the time or day.  
  
So instead of dragging this out any further Jensen sighs and says, “I would never do that to you. It kind of hurts that you think I would.”  
  
“I’m sorry,” Jared says, and Jensen can tell that it’s genuine but he can’t ignore the sinking feeling in his gut.  
\--  
  
They manage to patch things up and decide that they’re still going to give the relationship a go but by the next day Jensen’s not got the greatest feeling about. He cancels the dinner reservation that he has for following week and silently bemoans the fact that he scheduled himself off work. He settles down on the couch and spends a couple of hours watching some of the shows stored on his DVR. It’s one in the afternoon, when he hears a knock on his door and he stifles a groan. His friends know better than to bother him before three in the afternoon on any given day. Jensen decides to ignore and he’s go back to watching his screen. Seconds later, there’s another knock and he hears a squeal that sounds suspiciously like Aimee.  
  
“Uh, hi,” Jensen says dumbly when he finally opens the door to find Jared juggling a cooler in one hand and his daughter in the other. “Come in.” Instinctively, he reaches out to take Aimee. Jared hesitates for a few seconds before he lets him take her. Jensen chooses to ignore the awkward moment by spewing out weird baby talk as Aimee almost pokes his eye out. He turns to go back inside his apartment, and hears Jared behind him.  
  
“So, I brought lunch!” Jared says, as he joins Jensen on the couch. “It’s not as classy as dinner or anything, but it’s the best I can do.” For a second Jensen’s too caught up in making faces at Aimee while she makes what he hopes is happy noises. But then he grasps the implications of Jared’s words and looks up suddenly.  
  
“So, this is like, a lunch date or something?” He asks.  
  
“Yup,” Jared confirms with a grin. “I make a mean salad.” Jensen’s sure that’s the case but he’s more concerned about the fact that he’s wearing a ratty t-shirt, old jeans and that he hadn’t even bothered to fix up his hair.  
  
“Relax,” Jared says, with a wink. “It’s not like we can do anything non PG-13 right now anyway. You look great.”  
Of course he would say that. Jensen’s can see this for what it is, Jared making amends for the whole dinner thing. But he finds that he’s pretty much over that. Jared’s here and he’s _trying_. That’s all that matters.  
  
“I can’t say the same about your hair,” he teases and Jared rolls his eyes at him but smiles anyway. Jensen can’t help thinking that one day; the three of them will make one hell of a family.  
  
 **Fin.**


End file.
